The first book in a series of four, First Strike starts with a massive drop fiasco affecting a Klingon battle squardon, which was caused by the formation of a wormhole out of which emerges a ship crewed by none other than "demons" of various cultures and mythologies (Sorry but no Vader there). The Klingon General Kellen is so flabbergasted and scared that he decided to summon help - from the Starfleet! Captain Kirk (who else!) has just won exclusive mining rights to Capella, a strategically unimportant planet, and is busy defending the planet against a Klingon ground invasion in retaliation when a scared as hell Klingon General Kellen turns up. He offers immdediate cessation of hostilities but only if Kirk helps him defeat the powerful 'furies' who have recently breached Klingon space and claim it as their own. An intrigued Kirk follows the shocked General Kellen to the mysterious ship. He realize that the "demons" aboard that ship are the losers of a great war that took place a long time ago in the Alpha quadrant, when the victors hurled the losers (furies) across the galaxy, far awar from home. For milenniums the furies dreampt of returning home to the portion of Alpha Quadrant they once occupied (but which now houses the Imperial Klingon Empire, the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire) and now they are back at last! Kirk forges a friendship with the Fury Captain Zennor and tries to convince him that they are not the "Victors" whom the fury despise so much for their "ethnic cleansing" of them and invites the Furies to come and settle in the unoccupied space. Zennor was on the verge of accepting Kirk's proposal when he stumbles upon Spock's research which clearly linked the Furies origins with the Alpha quadrant. Infuriated and now sure that this was "their" space, the Fury ship battles with the the United Klinzhai-Starfleet forces in which the Fury ship is destroyed, but not before it sends a message back across the ripple (from which it appeared) calling for reinforcements and affirimg the "myths" that their origins were indeed in the Alpha quadrant. This novel shows the "human" side of the Furies unlike the second part (Soldiers of Fear-ST TNG) which completely demonizes them. The Klinzhai-Federation relations were strengthened by this incident and General Kellen vowed to devote his life to work towards better tlhIngan o'- UFP relations. A good book and a must read, 4 points out of five.
Title: Invasion! First Strike #1
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2/19/05
